Sports of The Times; His Health Is Only Goal For Lindros

By GEORGE VECSEY

Published: May 27, 2000

PHILADELPHIA—
THAT was not any player who toppled like a rag doll after a typical hockey hit last night. That was Eric Lindros, a player with a frightening history of brain concussions.

This was not a case of gratuitous hockey violence. This was a shocking and sad public view of an athlete trying to play a brutal sport when he apparently can no longer absorb punishment without danger to his life.

Appearing in only his second game after missing 30 because of his latest concussion, Lindros was hammered by the Devils' captain, Scott Stevens, at 7 minutes 50 seconds of the first period. The Devils eventually won, 2-1, on Patrik Elias's goal with 2:32 remaining, to move into the Stanley Cup finals, but Lindros never reappeared and was sent to the hospital for observation overnight.

Everybody understood the implications of the frightful collapse. If Lindros was staggered by this rather normal hit, not judged illegal by the referees or either side, how can Lindros continue to play?

The home crowd groaned as Lindros went straight down after Stevens appeared to hit him in the chin with the upper half of his arm

''Your heart's in your mouth,'' said Craig Ramsay, the Flyers' coach. ''You don't want to see this young man hurt again.''

Lindros stayed down for a few minutes, and was then ushered toward the locker room -- and quite possibly toward the enforced end of his career.

It was not a blatant case of headhunting, but it demonstrated the fragility of Lindros, who had suffered headaches and dizziness and even loss of memory after hits in recent seasons.

In March, Lindros suffered his fourth concussion in two years after a check against Boston. He played in four more games before he could not skate any longer.

This time, Lindros was treated by Dr. James Kelly, a neurologist and concussion specialist, who concluded that Lindros had suffered a Grade II concussion -- more severe than doctors had diagnosed.

After more than a month of rest, Lindros began skating but suffered a setback, ostensibly from a collision during a workout with minor league players. He was cleared to return by Dr. Kelly and then came the rather mysterious machinations within the organization.

Lindros, who became unpopular with management after accusing the Flyers of giving him superficial medical treatment, had to negotiate to see if teammates were receptive to his return -- a rather bizarre treatment for a player with 290 goals in 486 regular-season games and was captain until this season.

There were suggestions that Lindros was coming back to make himself desirable to other teams, since he seemed sure to be finished in Philadelphia.

''The doctor cleared him, and he wanted to play,'' Ramsay said last night. ''I've listened to a lot of players in my career, and I listened to him.''

With one day of practice with the team, Lindros returned Wednesday, scoring in a 2-1 loss. He was hardly jostled until the Flyers mounted a furious and belated charge. In fact, Lindros dealt out a fairly hard hit to Claude Lemieux, the annoying sparkplug of the Devils, knocking him to the ice, but nobody retaliated. Everybody understands the medical history of the big boy with No. 88 across his broad back.

Last night there was less leeway for an imperiled giant. Barely a minute after the Devils had gone ahead, 1-0, Lindros tried to summon up the rare mixture of speed and power that made him one of the forces in his sport. He tried to blast his way between two Devils, and Stevens led with his shoulder. It was the kind of hit that a brute like Lindros would have ordinarily tried to shrug off. He went straight down. ''Clean hit,'' said Dan McGillis, a Flyers' defender. ''Stevens is a big hitter, and you've got to control the puck, but you also have to keep your head up around him.''

The crowd booed Stevens, and when the home team showed replays on the message board -- clearly an incitement to the home crowd -- Stevens seemed to be wincing and was later consoled by his coach, Larry Robinson, between periods.

''I didn't watch it,'' Stevens said later. ''I didn't want to watch it. I didn't want to celebrate about it. It's a hit, and people sometimes get hurt, and I found it tough playing after that.''

Hockey players are legendary for playing with stitches and bruises and undisclosed injuries, but this was different. The man crumpled on the ice was Eric Lindros, who perhaps should never have been playing in the first place, and, after last night's proof of his vulnerability, should never play again.